Meat-chopper.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HUBERT K. WOOD, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

M EAT-CHOPPER.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 670,572, dated March 26, 1901.

Application filed June 5, 1900. Serial No. 19,102. LNo model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Beit known that I, HUBERT K. WOOD, a citizen of the Unit-ed States, residing in Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Meat-Choppers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in meat-choppers, and more particularly relates to the provision of a convenient means for insuring a uniform feed from the hopper to the cutting-knives.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a meat-chopper having my improvements applied thereto and mounted upon a suitable support. Fig. 2 is an end elevation, partly in section, of the upper portion of the meatchopper looking from the right in Fig. l, and

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the cover for lthe hopper.

Similar characters designate like parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

My present improvements may be applied to any well-known type of meat-chopper in which the material to be operated upon is fed by a screw to the cutting blades or knives, and in this instance they are illustrated in connection with such a device suitably modi'- ed as to certain features thereof, which will be hereinafter more particularly described.

This meat-chopper embodies as 4its principal elements a casing C, having therein a feed-screw F, extending longitudinally of the casing and substantially filling the main or cylindrical portion, which is suitably supported at its opposite ends for rotation therein, the usual crank or handle h being secured to one end of the feed-screw for the purpose of turning the same, while at the opposite end the main portion of the cylinder may be closed by the usual cap c, carrying the cutting blades or knives.

The meat chopper will usually have a bracket-arm B integral therewith, and by means of a suitable clamp-screw s the chopper may be fastened to such a support as S.

The casing C is preferably provided with an upwardly-extending' tlaring integral portion C', forming a supply opening or hopper, which is formed at one side of the feed-screw with a wall 5, which may be straight and substantially tangential to said screw, and at the opposite side a wall 10, preferably curved on an arc of a circle struck from a point 6 at or near the top of the wall 5. V The walls transverse to the axis of the screw may be perpendicular thereto and merge gradually into the walls 5 and 10 by easy curves. In proximity to the point 6, above mentioned, the wall5 is cut away at 5' to permit the hinging of a cover or feed-plate P. This cover consists of a plate formed to flt the lopening of the hopper, and the axis on whichit is hinged extends th rough the point v6 in a line substantially parallel to the axis of the feed-screw and lies on the side of the feed-screw opposite the direction of rotation of the same. Furthermore, this cover is of such length and the hopper-walls are so related to it and to the screw that the cover fills the' hopper opening during its entire movement, and its free end is capable of being moved below the top of the screw.

From the above description it will be seen that the cover when pressed upon the material in the hopper by the operators grasping a knob k will force it into the spiral of the screw in the direction of the knives, positively urging said material4 toward them in stead of merely holding it down upon the top of the screw and perhaps only allowing shreds to be cut off the lower portion, and as the cover passes farther into the hopper and the end comes below the top of the screw it forces the material diagonally into the spiral. At the same time the fit of the cover in the hopper prevents material from being forced out about its edges.

With this device, without liability of soiling or injuring the fingers, large and uneven pieces of meat or'other material may be fed with certainty and a very uniform product obtained.

Havinglthus described my invention, I

claiml. In a meat-chopper, the combination with a casing provided with a hopper, a longitudinally-extending feed-screw in said casing and a knife at one end thereof, of a cover hinged to the side of the hopperrin a line substantially parallel to the axis of the feed-screw and on `the side opposite to the direction of rotation thereof, adapted to press material into the spiral of the screw in the direction IOO rotation thereof, adapted to press the materiel into the spiral of the screw in the direction of the knife, the free end of said cover being capable of moving below the top of the screw and of practically filling the opening in the hopper during its entire movement.

HUBERT K. WOOD.

Witnesses:

FRED. J. DOLE, C. S. CHAMPION. 

